羊

Primary sense: sheep or goat. Beyond livestock, the glyph carries connotations of ritual purity and auspiciousness; it represents a standard offering in sacrificial contexts and may evoke qualities of docility or moral correctness.

Primarily a noun. It can function as an attributive (e.g., "sheep-like"), requiring the translator to determine if the reference is to the literal animal or its symbolic qualities (such as innocence or purity).

The glyph does not distinguish between sheep and goat. The specific animal is typically determined by geography, the nature of the livestock mentioned in the passage, or the presence of modifiers (e.g., 山 for mountain goat).

Avoid over-interpreting phonetic resonances with 陽 (yáng; solar/masculine principle) in early administrative or historical texts. While conceptual links may exist in later philosophical or medical traditions, they are rarely a primary driver of meaning in standard classical prose.